Initially seeming to be just another random occurrence, the story has become a major headache, leaving the Japanese automaker trying desperately to find out what exactly is leaving drivers of its $32,780 electric car stranded.

Here’s what we know so far about the issue, and what you can do to rectify it.

After using the car’s on-board air conditioning to pre-cool a car before driving it, or to cool the car during use, an affected Leaf displays three yellow warning lights--vehicle, power steering, and battery--while it is being used.

At this point, the car still operates normally, despite the lights. But as we all know, warning lights normally indicate something is wrong.

What would most people do at this point? Pull over, and power-cycle the car.

In fact, restarting the Leaf renders it completely inoperable. The car will apparently refuse to engage its Ready mode, temporarily turning it into a very expensive paperweight which has to be recovered and returned to the dealer.

The Cause

At the moment, Nissan has remained quiet on the issue, except to say that it is aware of the problem and working on a solution.

A few theories have surfaced, most of which revolve around the car’s air conditioning system.

One early theory cites over-charging of the Leaf’s air conditioning system at the factory. Several owners with the problems have had their Leaf air conditioning system recharged after dealers cited this as the problem. They have not had the same fault repeat itself.

A second theory cites a problem with the car’s current-leak detection software. That system activates a fault code if too much current is drawn by the air conditioning system or a current leak is sensed between the high voltage electronics and the car body.

Some owners of affected cars are reporting that their local dealers have either upgraded or downgraded their Leaf’s operating system, but thus far these actions just seem to be part of the dealer’s diagnostic attempts.

Once Nissan is confident that it knows the cause of the problem, it will take appropriate steps to repair affected cars. At present, no recall is planned since the system does not pose a direct safety risk to either car or occupants.

We have to disagree, however, after hearing of several Leaf owners stranded at stop lights after rebooting their car in an attempt to reset the error lights.